Your Right to Know

South Bloomfield Mayor Rick Wilson’s refusal to sign a piece of paper has undercut a proposal to add low-income housing to the Pickaway County village.

The village council unanimously supports the plan, but Wilson opposes putting a 50-unit apartment complex amid the village’s largest subdivision. So he refused to sign paperwork that would have scored more points for the proposal as the Ohio Housing Financing Agency evaluates which projects will receive federal assistance to build affordable housing.

Although the proposed site is zoned for multifamily dwellings, residents of Bloomfield Hills don’t want the project in their backyard, Wilson said. Dueling petitions supporting and opposing the project make for a 50-50 split.

“It’s adjacent to $200,000 homes inside that subdivision. It’s just not a good location,” Wilson said. Homeowners fear that low-income apartments could harm property values and increase crime, he said.

Councilman Roger Hopkins said the village needs residential growth to increase income-tax collections and help pay loans on a sewage-treatment plant that led to a recent increase in residential sewer rates to $25 a month from $17.

He said it’s stereotypical to consider low-income housing a blight. “People think just because someone makes between $20,000 and $40,000 a year, they are thieves and drug dealers. There are plenty of good people out there,” said Hopkins, a truck driver who lives in Bloomfield Hills.

Frontier Community Services, a nonprofit Chillicothe housing group, wants to build 50 three-bedroom apartments at a cost of $885,000 and rent them for $425 to $600 a month to low- to moderate-income families. A family of four could earn $39,000 a year and qualify.

Frontier is competing with 169 other housing proposals around Ohio for an award of federal tax credits to decrease costs and allow below-market rent. About 30 winning projects will be announced on June 12. A Frontier official declined to comment.

Part of the application process included a mayor’s statement designating housing proposals as a community priority, earning extra points in evaluations, said Ohio Housing Finance Agency official Sean Thomas.

The agency rejected a form signed by South Bloomfield’s council president because only mayoral signatures are accepted. The missing document “could work against this project ... could be a competitive disadvantage,” Thomas said.

Wilson said he would support building the project elsewhere in the village of 1,750 residents. “I’m not opposed to low-income housing, but where this is situated,” the mayor said.

Bloomfield Hills resident Pat Peacock, 73, doesn’t want the housing in her backyard. “I have nothing against people who don’t have a lot of money, but low-income (housing) isn’t going to help our property values any.”